


opened up the doors

by wafflelate



Series: Bat & Robin [1]
Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Gen, Hazards of Nara Clan Techniques, Kakashi's Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 03:53:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18865159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/pseuds/wafflelate
Summary: Everyone knows Wolf-senpai worries about his subordinates, so he’s really a natural choice to go to for help.





	opened up the doors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StarOfTime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarOfTime/gifts).



“Wolf-senpai,” someone says in the empty hallway. Kakashi pauses. 

There’s a door opened a sliver to the left. Kakashi turns to look. Robin is there, in the doorway, the lines of his body tense. He has his mask off, revealing that he is indeed an Uchiha, as Kakashi had expected. 

Kakashi waits. 

“Something’s wrong with Bat,” Robin says. He says it quietly, a strained and fearful sentence. 

Robin and Bat are younger than Kakashi, only fifteen or sixteen. He and Tenzō had put them through ANBU bootcamp only months ago. Sometimes when Kakashi looks at them, he feels ancient — but he had been that young once, that small, chasing after older ANBU members and his own death with his heart in his throat. He never would have asked for help. 

Kakashi steps into the room, an ANBU bunk room shared by Robin and Bat and their teammates, who are nowhere to be seen. Only one bed looks slept in, but Kakashi doesn’t pay that any mind — Robin and Bat had been close even before going through ANBU induction together. They clearly know each other masks-off, and it’s not strange for them to reach out to each other. 

What is strange is that Bat is sitting still and straight on the bed, her mask off. She doesn’t look up when Kakashi enters. When Kakashi crouches in front of her and runs a finger back and forth in front of her eyes a few times. She doesn’t track the movement. That’s bad. 

He’s never seen her face before, either. He’d thought that she was probably an Uchiha, given how close she is to Robin, but now that he’s seen her — this is Nara Shikako. Shikaku’s daughter. One of Crow-taichō’s genin. And Robin is right: something is very, very wrong. 

Hovering behind him, Robin says, “She was fine after our mission. Maybe a little chakra exhausted? But moving under her own power. The medics gave her a clean bill of health.” 

“Which medic?” 

Robin’s head tilts. “Does it matter?” 

“Yes.” Everything matters, especially the attitude of the medical professional seeing to an ANBU agent. Some of the more old-school medics are... not very invested in individual ANBU operatives. 

“Duck last night. Anteater this morning.” 

Anteater might very well have overlooked something — she certainly had when treating Kakashi in the past — but Duck would have genuinely checked every possible avenue, so bringing her to medical is probably useless. 

Fuck. 

“What can you tell me about the mission?” 

Robin’s lips twist. “Not much. It was hard. She — she had to use her clan jutsu.” 

“If it’s a problem caused by her clan techniques, she probably needs her clan,” Kakashi reasons. He’s not really sure why Robin needs him to explain this, actually. It’s a pretty typical next step. 

“Yeah,” Robin says hoarsely. “But I can’t take her there, senpai. I need you to do it. She’s—” 

“—I know who she is,” Kakashi interrupts, and sighs. 

He knows things are tense for the Uchiha, and that there might even be mission secrecy concerns. He knows that Robin is probably right to worry about what it would look like for an Uchiha to go to the Nara grounds with their catatonic heir and try to explain without explaining what exactly had happened to her. As far as Kakashi knows, Nara Shikako isn’t publicly friends with any Uchiha boys. It’s somewhat doubtful that Robin would get the benefit of the doubt. But Kakashi... well, even if the Nara do suspect something, what can they do? 

“I’ll take her directly to Shikaku,” Kakashi says. “You should go inform Commander Zou.” 

He gathers Bat — Shikako — up in his arms and leaves for the tower. 

* * *

Three weeks come and go. Kakashi places Robin’s face to a name — Uchiha Shisui — despite how rude investigating your fellow ANBU is. Kakashi also goes on a mission and comes back to find Bat hanging around the ANBU canteen, her head ducked low in conference with Robin. When she notices Kakashi, she leaps to her feet and bounces over to him. He thinks she might actually dare to hug him, but she stops a reasonable distance away. Robin also approaches, with more caution but the same amount of enthusiasm humming under his skin. 

Cat, lurking at his shoulder, looks between them with confusion. Kakashi hadn’t told anyone about taking Bat to Shikaku for help. It’s not really anyone’s business. Just Kakashi doing his duty as a captain to look out for a subordinate, nevermind that he’s not _Bat’s_ captain. 

“Wolf-senpai,” she says letter her heels rise up off the floor and then dropping herself back down, an excited sort of fidgeting that reminds Kakashi of Ūhei jumping impatiently at doorways when he wants to go outside. 

Kakashi nods to her. “Bat.” 

She bounces a little faster. “Robin and I wanna train with you,” she says. 

“Hmm. You’re not on my team, last I checked.” 

Bat’s head bobs. “Yeah, Wolf-senpai, but don’t be lame. I meant, you know, socially. Like friends!” She glances at Tenzō. “We can be friends, too. Wolf-senpai probably keeps good company.” 

Kakashi hums noncommittally at her again, even though he’s definitely considering it. She’s obviously fine, but she also obviously needs looking after. Robin, too. Can’t let them keep trying to just look after each other, since that’s clearly not working. 

Bat looks at Robin and then back at Kakashi. “I think you’ll really get something out of it, too, senpai,” she enthuses. “But I can’t just _tell_ you because it’s, you know, a _secret_.” She taps her mask three times just under her left eye hole. This is ANBU slang for winking, but the second time Bat draws her tap out a little strangely, so that her finger draws a line vertically over her left eye hole. 

There’s no actual way that Bat could know what his scar looks like, but her meaning is still loud and clear. If Kakashi says yes, Uchiha Shisui will teach him to use Obito’s eye. 

It’s an incredible offer, generous and stupid and dangerous. Kakashi isn’t noble enough to turn it down. 

“I do love secrets,” he tells them. “And fighting Cat all the time can get boring.” 

Bat and Robin cheer, perform a complex high five routine, and then drag Kakashi and Cat over to eat at their table with them. Kakashi plots the argument he’ll use to get Bat and Robin on his team — he probably won’t need it, but all good ninja are prepared for resistance. 


End file.
